Say It in 6 Seconds or Less: Your Crash Course in Bumper Ads

Say It in 6 Seconds or Less: Your Crash Course in Bumper Ads

If you’ve watched a YouTube video lately, chances are, you’ve noticed an uptick in shorter ads that you can’t skip before watching your intended content. These six-second ads—known as bumper ads—have only been around for about a year, but they’re proving to be a disruptive force in digital marketing. Though they have some challenges built in with trying to convey an effective message in such a short amount of time, they’ve also inspired some distinctively creative and thoughtful video ads while proving to be an effective measure for increasing brand awareness. In this article, we’ll give you a quick crash course in bumper ads to give you an idea of this emerging trend.

Where did bumper ads come from?

Even well-designed videos with just a 30-second runtime are likely to get skipped over by impatient YouTube viewers who just want to watch some quality cat videos. Bumper ads provide a solution with a very short runtime and no option to skip. Advertisers are happy, because they know that more eyes will be on their videos, and users are happy, because they don’t have to sit through longer ads or worry about hitting a “skip” button as soon as it pops up.

How do you design an effective bumper ad?

When you think of an ad story in words, you might think that you’ll never condense an idea into just six seconds, because it takes so much longer just to describe the video. However, you have to remember the power of images. You can quickly establish an emotional mood or create a character that will allow you to tell a whole story in a short amount of time. You can also use bumper ads as an opportunity to make a series of ads, which will make a stronger impression after an extended period.

Do these things really work?

Data is still limited, but one study of 122 bumper campaigns showed that these ads drove a 70% lift in brand awareness, so the potential is nothing to scoff at.

Pennington Creative can help you explore the world of bumper ads with animation and graphic design services, which can round out your SEO strategy. To learn more about what we do, check out our website.